Obsidian Codices
by yornma
Summary: A month after the newly formed Guardians saved Xandar they are called back with a mission to find the Obsidian Codices and bring it back intact to Xandar... (see full summary inside, this is part 3 of the Harebrained Schemes Series)
1. Chapter 1

**Obsidian Codices – A month after the newly formed Guardians saved Xandar they are called back with a mission to find the Obsidian Codices and bring it back intact to Xandar. Unfortunately the planet that the relic is on happens to be filled with Ronan sympathizers as well as a very familiar member of the Ravagers. Will they all be able to work together to safe the galaxy again or will the Kree rebels finally get to finish what Ronan started?**

** (Part 3 of Harebrained Schemes –please read Unlikely Guardian & To catch a criminal for backstory on OC Adra****)**

**OC, Peter Quill/Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Drax, Groot**

**Rated T for violence, language.**

**Hurt/Comfort**

**A/N - Don't own GOTG just my OC Adra & Niaras**

* * *

><p>-Tues - 1543-<p>

-Tanaris: Piknpul Salvage Yard: Garage

-Adra-

She climbed into the cockpit of the black and red ship, sliver fingers brushing over the console bringing it to life as she started a system scan, it had been nearly two weeks since she had climbed aboard what had once been her safe haven. But now she had a much bigger and less cramped one on Tanaris.

It had started simply enough, with Niaras taking care of her nearly two years ago when she got bite wound while at the prison mines of Norvua VI. The doctor had released her on the condition that she would stay planet side for the next month. He took her in and steadfastly refused to let her go anywhere that involved tinkering or taking something apart. She had grown restless and irritable but he was insistent and patient.

When she was finally healed enough to stay conscious for more than a few hours at a time, thanks to the painkillers the doctor had loaded her with- she was allowed meander in the salvage yard again and finally after two weeks she called Peter to get a ride back to get her ship.

Adra sat in the pilot's seat idly watching the screen scroll before her as the diagnostics ran, checking over the various parts of the ship making sure everything was in working order.

She heard boots on the ladder behind her.

"Missed me?"she asked over her shoulder, not taking her eyes of the display.

"You left your tablet and I took the liberty of making some tea." He handed her the black tablet and a mug, leaning down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

She glanced at the information on the tablet with keen interest and took a sip from the mug.

"Huh, "she said sipping the warm liquid.

"What is it?" Niaras asked peering over her shoulder at the image of a pyramid on the tablet.

"One of my contacts came through with some info on the relic."

"One of your contacts?"

She glanced at him sideways before nodding, "Yes. I rebuilt a generator for him about a month ago, I told you this. And don't give me that look, he had tentacles," she shuddered slightly," I had to remind him to keep them to himself."

A slight smile played on his lips, "Was that before or after you maimed him?"

She blinked innocently, "Now, what would give you that idea?"

He snorted, turning back to the display," Looks like a pyramid."

That is the Obsidian Codices, to his head tilt she explained, "it's a written history of the Onari -my people. From beginning to end. Everything that ever happened to us is contained that pyramid." Her voice going distant.

His eyes turned to her and she continued to stare at the image for a moment.

"Where is it?"

"On the far side of the sector apparently in the possession of some radical Kree group who probably want to use the strategic plans to cause another war."she murmured before finishing the contents of the mug.

The diagnostic check had finished and confirmed what she had already known, everything was in working order.

He took the mug from her hand before she realized it, turning her attention back to the tablet.

"When are you leaving?" he queried, watching the conflicting emotions on her face.

She bit her lip for a moment, hesitating in her answer. As important as the relic was, she wasn't overly eager to leave.

"Tomorrow morning?" she asked softly, almost nervously, standing up to face him.

He placed the empty mug on the console and pulled her close, pushing the goggles off her eyes and onto her hair.

"Whatever you decide to do, know that I will be here," her purple eyes held his gaze for a moment and looked down, he gently lifted her chin up towards his placing a gentle sweet kiss on her lips," I'm not going anywhere. Okay?"

She nodded, mutely as if afraid to speak. Her face feeling suddenly warm and wanting to kick herself for it, moments like this made her still feel unsure of herself even after nearly a year.

* * *

><p>-Wed - 0617-<p>

-Janir: Kree Rebel Outpost -

-Adra-

Her contact had provided her with basic information but had neglected to tell her it was a rebel Kree outpost armed to the teeth. Her ship was shot at as soon as it entered the lower atmosphere. She let out a steady stream of curses in various languages she knew biting her bottom lip this was not The console in front of her flashed red notifying her that the heaviest of the damage was in the wings Her features returned to a scowl as she steered her ship towards the eastern side of the planet closest to where the target was.=They were using modified plasma cannons with long range capabilities and it wasn't of Kree design. She knew all too well what the Kree were capable of, they had translated the Codices.

She knew Kree weapons, she had spent months as a prisoner on K'nar IV, they were using modified plasma cannons with long range capabilities. Weapon designs that were buried deep within the Obsidian Codices, they had translated it. She hoped they had not yet translated the segments about the they had translated the Codices.

Time for plan B, she thought to herself and as much as she had wanted to come into the job incognito, they had ruined that and tilted her hand, forcing her to use her latest modification sooner than she would have liked. She pulled the steering controls forward and deployed the smoke bombs giving her cover and she hit the green flashing "Eject" on the console, with two loud metallic clicks, the wings fell away. Her chest tightened slightly, her beloved ship the Spathi was going to be nothing more than rubble on a Kree outpost.

But there would be time later to mourn the destruction of her ship as well as seek vengeance on those that caused its demise. Right now she needed to land what remained of it and from what it looked like the thrusters were only going to hold out for another ten minutes tops. Changing the display on the screen from normal to night vision mode, the screen lit up green giving her the advantage point that the guards on the ground wouldn't have.

Judging her trajectory and speed she would be landing in a thick marsh roughly about 10 kilometers away in about five minutes. She subconsciously pulled the seat belt closer, knowing that a crash landing was imminent and having experienced a handful of them she braced herself the best she could as the ship turned upside down and nose dived into the marsh.

When she regained consciousness a few minutes after the landing, she was thankfully still strapped in by the seatbelt, but hanging upside down. She struggled for a moment to undo the seat belt and braced herself for the hard fall as she landed on the windshield, silently thankful that she wasn't wearing her boots that had metal enforced cleats, otherwise she would have cracked the reinforced glass causing the murky brown water to flood the cabin.

Walking along the ceiling of what remained of her ship and she managed to dislodge her brown cloth duffel bag and her ever present black shoulder bag, slinging them both over her shoulder.,

She tapped at the silver scanner on her left wrist, blinked awake and showed her that she was about 10 meters away from the main building that held the relic. She scanned the surface of the planet, there were no buildings on the surfaces which mean more than likely there were tunnels of caves under the surface.

She managed to manually push open the docking door and promptly landing into the swampy water, legs first. Thankfully it wasn't that deep and jarred her for a moment before she got her bearings back, only to find herself eye to barrel as she was surrounded by three blue skinned guards and one very smug looking commanding officer.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise," the largest of the guards - she assumed he was the leader of them- sneered.

"Figured I would just drop in, see what's going on." she said drily with a shrug.

"I can see that, " He replied, wading out into the water to grab her forcefully by the right arm and pulling the other arm behind her back and clasping something that felt very much like cuffs around her wrists,"Since you decided to try to allude capture. I won't be taking any chances on you escaping again."

Memories stirred in the back of her mind of the last time a Kree had forced her into cuffs, she willed it back. This was not the time to take a trip down memory lane. She had a job to do; it consisted solely of getting the relic and being as far away from this place as possible. If that meant getting captured for a bit, she was game to play along. She had numerous painful ways of getting information out of people, after all she had spent nearly ten years as a Ravager, she could negotiate and interrogate with the best of them.

It was only a short walk to where they were going which was the opening of a large cave, for which she was thankful, her leg was beginning to hurt from the earlier impact, so she was relieved that once they walked her throught he main entrance that had four more guards, but also the guards on each section of the tunnel stood two to four more guards.

She tried not to show her surprise as he replied, "Our boss has deployed extra security to make sure nothing or no one gets out alive."

She said nothing, keeping mental track of each turn they made until she was led into a large cavernous room. On one side of it were metal cages, the other were three metallic elongated cylinders that were propped up by metal feet. Her breathe caught in her throat recognizing the weapons instantly, she cursed inwardly at the slip in her stoic features as the leader grinned at her.

"Figured you would recognize these. Took us a little while to build them, translating your native tongue isn't easy, but now that we have you it will be easier."

He stopped her right before the door to the cage, another guard opened the door while he busied himself undoing the cuffs. Once the door was open and the cuffs undone he shoved her in hard enough for her to stumble. The cage was a simple design of bars and a metal floor, large enough for her to sit and possibly lay down if she curled her legs underneath her, but nothing else. The second and third guard dropped her shoulder bag and duffel onto the table along with her jacket leaving her unarmed and in wet clothing.

* * *

><p>-Wed - 1917-<p>

-Janir: Kree Rebel Outpost -

-Adra

"You can do this the easy way or hard way. " his voice echoed in her head. She opened her eyes hoping to find herself somewhere else, but nope, she was tied to a wooden chair and being interogratted by the leader of the Kree outpost.

His interrogation methods were crude at best, he had already gone through the usual threats, no one would come for her, no one would know she was even missing, blah blah blah. Then he tried a different tactic trying to use her dead family against her, she had remained stoic through the ordeal. It was then he decided to try the talk method.

A blue hand reached out and slapped her across the face, her right cheek stung for a moment. She gritted her teeth, but remained stoic.  
>"Your silence won't help you."<br>Another slap, this one on the other cheek.  
>"What makes you think I would help you?" she asked evenly between gritted teeth. "Your leader annihilated my people. I would never help the likes of you," she growled flashing her fangs<br>Hand moved to slap her, as it came down she made a move forward and caught it between her teeth, letting her fangs since into the skin piercing through soft tissue and veins. She tasted the bitterness of blood.  
>He yelped and cursed in his native tongue, landing a punch to her diagram it winded her but she bit down harder.<br>"Let go our I will slit your throat." another guard hissed behind her, knife on her neck.  
>She did and got a loud smack to the back of her head for her compliance, her head throbbed and her vision in her right eye blurred, but then again it was a blur she had been used to at this point especially since they confiscated her goggles when she was initially captured. She tried to remember how long ago that was, it seemed like hours but it could have been days, the absence of natural light threw her off.<p>

The leader was getting his hand wrapped with gauze, to her satisfaction it was still bleeding, she allowed herself a small satisfied smile despite the fact that his dark eyes boring into her purple ones, "Imma give you one last chance girly before we make your species completely extinct"  
>"I dare you to try," she challenged lowly.<br>There was sudden shouting and plasma fire in the distance, a few of the guards looked at their leader.  
>"Go." he nodded.<br>That left her four, she could easily handle four. They were foolish enough not to have patted her down when they took her items and coat. She always kept a retractable knife strapped to her wrist. They were also foolish to use a nylon type rope, she wiggled a finger free, she needed at least two free to be able to flick the knife.  
>"On second thought," she said hesitating just enough to make it sound like she was actually considering her options when she was really trying to buy herself some time, "I'll take a look at it. But I'm warning you my native tongue is a bit rusty."<br>He grunted, sheathing his weapon and smiled down at her. "Glad you are finally seeing things my way."  
>"Well you're very convincing. "<br>His eyes oozed over her, she swallowed the urge to roll her eyes and gag and offered a hollow smile.  
>2 fingers<br>3 fingers  
>She flicked her wrist and began to saw at the rope, he had turned his back to her - which would have been a fatal move if she had been armed and not tied down- walking towards an unsuspecting cardboard box, lifting it, he dug into it for a moment before turning towards her with an even smaller now red box in his hand.<br>With a wiggle and a tug she freed her right wrist and undid the rest of the rope around her left.  
>He brought the he red box to her and opened it up to reveal pyramid to her, touching the bottom of it causing it to open like a flower exposing the obsidian shard that sat in the middle glowing purple. She resisted the urge to snatch it from him waiting for the perfect moment.<br>"We managed to translate two of the wings, which is how we were able to manufacture the ore to make the weapons you saw in the boiler room. You should recognize them, since it only took one of them to destroy your homeworld. We made three, so far."  
>"That's enough to turn this planet into a supernova," she said before she could stop herself.<br>He smiled menacing," That is the idea my dear girl. The gravitational and the shockwave combined will destroy neighboring planets. Ronan may be dead but his dream of vengeance is still very much alive. And you will serve your purpose. Now read it."  
>He thrust the pyramid in her face, her eyes refocused adjusting to the soft glow, the shard reflect the microscopic writing, magnifying it to a legible size. The particular paragraph it was focused on spoke about the war that caused the reverse turbine machines to be built, the working class wanted to create a machine that would churn the ocean's waters to create electricity, the government had other ideas. Create cylinders to house the reverse turbines to churn the waters and store that energy to power a heating unit that would combine with plasma that would blast a protective atmosphere over their planet to keep outsiders out. The plan obviously failed as one of the scientists had loyalties to the government and reversed the turbines which caused it to shoot towards the planet's core instead of into the atmosphere, which caused the core to destabilize and systematically wipe out life over a course of a few weeks.<br>She felt the anger rise up in her chest, how stupid were they really? It was her people, her species that had caused their own demise but they had been imbeciles about it.  
>"Well?" He asked impatiently, grounding her back to reality.<br>She cocked her head to the side and smiled slowly, menacing, letting her fangs show and dropping her hands to the side.  
>He made a move to pull away, but it was too late as she swiped the pyramid out of his hands claws slicing his skin. She twisted the bottom of the relic, closing it and kicked the guard away from her while he held on his profusely bleeding appendage. The other three guards were started by their leader's scream and went to defend. She grabbed the chair with her left hand and swung it connecting squarely with the heads of two of the guards, knocking them both down.<br>With one left to go, the leader tried to get up holding his bloody arm, she jumped forcefully on his leg causing it to buckle and twist in an unnatural angle, he screamed loudly she bent down and jerked his neck to the side, something hard connected with the back of her head and for a moment she stumbled seeing stars.

She extended her claws fully and swirled around swiping where she thought the guard was as her vision was still clouded by stars. A heavy thud beside her confirmed her kill. She blinked several times trying to clear her vision, stepping over the dead bodies as she did so, walking towards the table where she placed the pyramid down, pulled her coat, glanced inside her black shoulder bag to make sure nothing was taken, sliding the pyramid into it and putting the strap over her shoulder and went to check the duffel bag when she heard voices coming from the tunnel to her right.

She frowned, trying to pick up how many they were, and more importantly if they were friend or foe, but the voices were too far away. Either that or she was just hearing things, she did just take a pretty hard hit to the back of the head it could have been signs of a concussion.

Maybe she was hallucinating the entire thing, she pinched her right arm and winced. Nope, this was definitely not a dream, which meant she needed to disable the weapons before the Kree decided it was time to take everyone out.

Pushing her goggles over her eyes, she slid underneath the first one, popping open the fuse box, pulling out two red chips and a blue one and then severing a blue and yellow wire. The weapon's soft humming died down quietly.

She slid from up under the cylinder, one down, two more to go. She found herself face to face with the front end of a plasma cannon.

"You have got to be kidding" she growled, pushing the weapon away to get from up under the cylinder.

A small black and white furry creature stood in front of her growling, pointing the gun back into her face.

She looked up at the ceiling for a moment wondering if some divine presence was testing her. She sighed, irritated now but trying not to show it, clearly this creature was not one to be trifled with, but then again nether was she, "Look, I don't know if you realize this or not; but if you shoot me these cylinders are going to blow and make this planet go super nova. So unless you have a death wish I suggest you get outta my way."

She waited for a moment letting the realization sink in and she turned to her left side, pulling her legs underneath her. She stood to her full height realizing the creature was a lot less imposing especially since it was only much shorter than her. Under normal circumstances she may have struck up a conversation with him inquiring about his plasma cannon, but she was not in the mood to deal with anything other than disabling the weapons.

The furry creature scowled but shouldered his weapon. She walked over to the next cylinder and moved to slide underneath it before pausing for a moment turning her head to the side,"By the way, you're only operating that cannon at 88% capacity, a few tweaks and you could probably get take out something bigger than a Krull."

She slid underneath the next cylinder but not before catching the confused look on the creature's face, she allowed herself a smirk and turned her eyes towards the fuse box, pulling the chips out and then cutting the wires.

* * *

><p>-Fri 1434-<p>

-Janir: Underground Tunnels -

-Peter-

He heard his furry companions voice, but for the life of him didn't know where the raccoon went. Dammit, he had told Dey he would look after them.

"Rocket, did you find something?" he called out.

"Yeah," the raccoon's voice was coming from one of the tunnels in front of them and it seemed strange, he sounded oddly -confused- would the hybrid animal ever sound anything other than angry? Peter frowned, knowing that it couldn't be good," I found some type of weapon and well, just get your asses in here."

They came into the room after finishing up with the guards to find Rocket looking at a figure that was underneath one of the three cylinders that were in the large room.

"What happened to shoot first and ask questions later?" the self proclaimed Starlord quipped.

The creature opened his mouth, but before anything could come out an annoyed female voice echoed against metal from underneath the cylinder.

"Oh, great you brought reinforcements. I could have used the help earlier, "they looked towards the owner of the voice who was pulling herself from up under a propped up metallic cylinder. She pushed goggles from her face and wiped her arm against her eyes, pushing the goggles back over them. Amethyst eyes scanned over them as her features turned into an all too familiar scowl once her eyes landed on him," I should have known."

"Nice to see you too." he replied relaxing slightly releasing the grip on his gun, knowing that she didn't pose a threat well, at least not at the moment anyways.

Looking back to her, he noticed the darkening bruises on her face, "You look terrible."

Her eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but her tone remained calm and collected, "Well, I didn't realize I was going to company, but now that you're here, it's a party."

"I do not see how this is a party." Drax said behind him.

"Metaphor." he said over his shoulder, returning his gaze to the silver skinned woman who had turned her back to him and was heading toward the cylinder to the far right of the room.

Rocket looked at Peter expectantly, shifting his plasma cannon from one shoulder to the other. Gamora shifted to his right he could feel her dark eyes boring holes into his side. Silently wanting, no _demanding_ an explanation. He ignored it for the moment, he had a growing suspicion she was here for the same reasons they were.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you. Did Yondu send you?" She sat down and then pulled herself underneath the tank like device, her tone turning threatening," Because I swear-"

"No, we're not exactly on speaking terms right now." he said with a light chuckle remembering the last encounter he had with his Elder after the Infinity Stone incident.

She scoffed.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Now why don't I believe you?" she asked her voice echoing off the metal in front of her giving it a slight metallic edge "Oh, that's right because you're a notorious liar."

"Hey, I'm not _that_ bad." he protested childishly.

"Oh no, cause knocking me unconscious, stealing my jobs and engine schematics make you quite the stand up guy." He could hear the exasperation in her voice.

"I didn't-"he paused for a moment, then remembered" wait, yeah, I did."

She snorted.

The sound of a metal grate rattling against the ground pulled him away from his thoughts.

Finally not getting an answer form either of them, Gamora huffed impatiently and then broke the silence with a hesitant voice." Do you two, know each other?"

"Unfortunately," the other woman sighed heavily, pulling herself from underneath the tank like weapon," should have shot him out of an airlock when I had a chance. "

"Hey, I helped save your life."

"Only to try to kill me a few days later." she countered.

"That was an accident." he said suddenly defensive.

Her arms folded across her chest and she glowered at him.

"You're still alive aren't you?" it was his turn to state with the obvious.

"Apparently."

"Well, there you go." he gave her a winning smile.

"I could have easily handled the guards myself," she scowled," But you're still a jackass by the way."

"Wait-Why am I a Jackass? " he asked in disbelief.

"Let's see, did you want me to list the reasons alphabetically or chronologically?" she gave him a sideways glance while gathering her duffel bag and black bag and shrugging into her red coat.

Rocket made a hissing noise which the half-Terran assumed was the closest thing the genetically enhanced creature could produce close to a snicker.

"Hey-" he tried to continue but was met with a very pointed glare from a certain green assassin. The silver skinned female took the moment to dust off her pants.

"All right, all done. Let's blow this joint."

It was then Drax decided it was time to make another contribution to the conversation.

"I do not think it would be wise to use explosive near these weapons."

She raised a dark questioning eyebrow at the blue skinned tattooed man, but Peter rolled his eyes now very used to the alien's inability to understand metaphors.

"Metaphor." he supplied, then turned to the younger woman," how did you get here?"

"I grew wings and flew," she replied drily, then for a brief moment he saw something come across her features, but before he could try to identify it, it was gone," I took my ship, are you sure you weren't hit your head? "

He looked at her confused, the concern on her face gave way to a mischievous smirk "No, why?"

Rocket let out a guffaw, which earned him a glare from the reputable Starlord, he did not need Rocket to encourage her. Gamora made a noise to his right, he couldn't tell if it was a cough or snicker. The half Terran knew better than to challenge the deadly assassin.

"Adra, by the way," the younger woman said by way of introduction to the rest of his team, "and I apologize he's normally not this slow. And from the looks of it, you're stuck with me for a little bit longer since my ship is in pieces at the moment."

"Wait, what?" he asked incredulously.

"As much as I would love to continue this conversation," she said with an impatient sigh," I'm thinking getting off this planet would probably be the best thing to do as I've had my fill of Kree rebels for a lifetime."

"I agree." Drax said.

"Fine." the self proclaimed Starlord conceded.

* * *

><p>-Fri 1845-<p>

-Milano-

-Adra-

She winced once the lights came on as she followed him and his team on board the ship, rubbing her head lightly. The dull throbbing was only getting worse and considering how fuzzy her vision in her right eye was she had a feeling it would soon be swollen shut.

"Huh, I don't remember it being this clean in here." she observed lightly, glancing over the nearly spotless ship.

He shot her a hurt look.

"What? I've seen the insides of these engines nothing scared me more than being in the living space."

The smallest member of Peter's crew didn't bother hiding the grin on his face, dropping his gun on the ground near his table with his stuff with a clank, while the others kept moving climbing the ladder towards the navigation deck. Glancing over the collection of metal parts and things some of which she knew Peter would have a fit if he had a clue of what they did. She couldn't help a snicker at the thought, which earned her a questioning glare from the dark eyed creature.

Clearly the creature was a mechanical genius, especially since one of the pieces had enough power to blow up a small moon.

She found a table near the ladder that was free and unshouldered her duffle back, but kept the black bag with her. She trusted Peter for the most part, but the rest of them -even if they were his crew- were questionable.

They all headed towards the navigation deck. She climbed it with ease, feeling the pang of familiarity and realizing she her ship was in pieces in a swamp on a planet she would probably never see again.

She brushed the thought aside, pulling herself topside.

Quill flopped into the pilot's chair with a sigh of relief and

"Please tell me you have a decent first aid kit or at least one with some decent pain killers." she said behind him, not bothering to mask the pain that was beginning to be more prominent with each passing minute.

He glanced back at her, blue eyes filled with concern, "Yeah, should be in the kitchenette."

"Good. I'll make some tea while I'm at it." she ignored his unasked question and disappeared down the ladder, hearing the beginnings of a conversation as she left but not having the patience or concentration to join in.

She had managed to find something closely resembling a first aid kit, though it was severely lacking in supplies, thankfully there were some painkillers there. She made a mental note to scold him later for his lack of supplies.

Opening the bottle, she shook and let three pills drop into her hand, tilting her head back she dropped them down her throat and closed the lid, placing it back in the kit and the kit back in the cabinet.

She set herself to the task of making tea, she opened the cabinets finding a mug, instant coffee but no tea.

Stepping close to the ladder she shouted up, "Where's the tea?"  
>"Should be in the cabinet."<p>

"It's not." she replied impatiently.

"Then we're out?" came the reply.

She resisted the urge to put her hand on her face opting to let out a frustrated huff instead, going towards her duffel, opening a side pocket and pulling out a small wooden container, sliding the lid of the container open, the smell of fresh rain caused a smile to come across her cracked lips.

Normally she would have only used one bag, but after everything she had been through so far, it was definitely a two bag sort of day. She pulled out the bags and slid the lid closed, tucking the container back into the side pocket she went back to the small kitchenette and filled the mug with hot water and stuck the bags in.

The aroma of fresh rain and blooming flowers filled the room. She heard a small "ah" noise, whirling on her heel, she found the furry creature standing in front of her with a pot in his hands.

In the pot was a small little sapling who was smiling at her with dark eyes.

"A sentient plant?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah,"He nodded seemingly unsure of himself, "So, Groot wanted to know what you were doing."

"Making tea." she supplied, glancing behind her. Only another minute or two before it was done.

"I am Groot?" the sapling asked quizzical.

"It's a special Tanarian brand." she explained.

"You can understand him?" the man-creature asked unable to mask the surprise in his voice.

She nodded slightly not wanting to aggravate her headache any more than needed, "On my homeworld we had sentient plants. There was a nursery full of saplings and once they got big enough we would let them roam to tend the gardens on the eastern sector."

" I am Groot?" he asked curiously.

She smiled sadly," I wish I could take you to see it, but I'm afraid my planet no longer exists."

The sapling frowned and reached out a branch to touch her, patting her wrist gently.

"I am Groot." he said sadly.

"Thank you." she whispered, blinking back the memories and tears that were threatening to spring forth due to the mention of her homeworld. She turned focusing on pouring herself a cup of tea and sipping it. The warm liquid cascaded down her throat soothing the scratchiness and calming her nerves.

"I am Groot?" the sapling asked catching the look as well as noticing her holding her head.

"Nothing a good hot shower can't sure." she replied, with a wave of her right hand.

* * *

><p>-Fri 2013-<p>

-Milano-

-Peter-

He had set a course for the nearest port which was Zu'ail, they needed fuel and from Adra's tone earlier first aid supplies and tea.

It took him longer than he had hoped to pacify the curiosity of his teammates over their new addition, but he had given them enough information to know that she wasn't a threat, even if she was a Ravager. He had climbed the ladder down to the lower deck hoping to get more information out of her about what exactly she was doing on Janir and how in the world she had gotten herself captured.

He saw her duffel bag sitting on the chair near the main table, and Groot was in his pot near it.

"Where's Adra?" he asked.

"Shower." came the gruff reply behind him.

"Dammit, Rocket!" Starlord nearly jumped out of his skin, turning to face his smaller teammate. Who had a glass of water in his hand and his plasma cannon over the other shoulder.

"What?" the creature shot him a confused look.

"Dude, seriously sneaking up on me like that, not cool."

Rocket shrugged and watered his sapling friend,"Better?"

"I am Groot." the sentient tree said happily, wiggling his branches at Peter.

"Want some music buddy?" the half Terran asked, taking his attention away from the

The sapling nodded enthusiastically.

Peter strode over to the cassette player and pushed play. Immediately the music from Awesome Mix Volume 2 began to fill the cabin, spreading to each and every corner of the ship.

The plant started dancing to the song and he couldn't help but smile at the being's happiness and found himself dancing along.

"Come on, Rocket." he called out to his furry teammate, who had settled next to the duffel bag and was unscrewing panels from plasma canon.

"I don't dance." the raccoon grumbled, giving him a glare before returning to his work.

"If he did, I would pay good units for it." an amused female voice said.

He looked up and gave the silver skinned woman a characteristic grin.

He noticed the bruise on her right cheek was in the shape of a hand. His gut tightened for a moment, hoping that whoever did that was one of the Kree he had killed. Her arms went across her chest, he caught the glimpse of hastily stitched cut on her arm.

I'm fine," she said with an annoyed sigh, moving her duffel bag to the floor and sitting next to Rocket," I'm not bleeding, don't have a concussion and nothing's broken."

"So what's so important about this relic any ways?" Peter asked casually, not entirely convinced she was okay, they had just found her in the underground caves and from the looks of it had been held captive , there was no way anyone would have been simply 'okay' after something like that.

"That _thing_ as you so casually refer to," her voice low a near growl with the word "thing" before returning to her normal tone," is the Obsidian Codices, it as contains the entire history of the Onari people, from beginning to well.." she trailed off for a moment before taking a sip of her drink, "Everything that has ever happened to them is recorded on it. And as we both witnessed there's a lot of military records on it. What we saw back there was the same thing that caused my homeplanet to die. "

"Those weapons you were disabling were Onari designed?" Rocket asked surprised and beating Peter to the punch.

"Yes. Modified a bit. It only took one of them to destroy our planet. How Kree rebels managed to get a hold of the relic and translate it, I'm not sure I want to know."

"Ronan had captured several on a mining planet, Knar IV, I believe it was. That could explain how the relic ended up with the Kree." Gamora's voice floated from the end of the hall where she was standing, walking towards them.

* * *

><p>-Fri 2035-<p>

-Milano-

-Adra-

Her breath caught in her throat at the mention of Ronan and Knar IV. She squeezed her eyes closed trying to will the panic away. This was not the time nor place to do this, but as she felt the icy cold tendrils of panic wrap around her, the nightmarish memories of her captivity ten years ago came to the forefront. She wanted to curl into a ball and be alone, wanting to get away from the prying eyes, away from everything but she knew better than try to make a move to get up. So she did the next best thing, gathering her knees to her chest, she put her head down in the space between her chest and legs effectively blocking out the blinding artificial light. She wrapped her arms around her legs and subconsciously started to rock back and forth, her ears thudded with the sound of blood coursing through her veins. She felt her body began to shake.

Not now.

As the tightness in her chest began to steadily grow, she tried to focus on slowing down her breathing.

Breathe in.

Why now? It had been nearly two months since the last attack, why all of a sudden?

Breathe out.

You shouldn't have let yourself get capture. The small voice within chided

Breathe in

Why are you so weak? You knew what would happen if they found out what you are, you knew what they would do, the voice continued growing angry.

Breath out.

How could you be so stupid to think you would be able to fight them?

"I am Groot?" the sapling's small worried voice cut through her mantra. She felt the soft padding of branches on her arm, she wanted to open her eyes and reassure him that she was okay, but the truth she was so far from it she couldn't even lie to someone she barely knew, much less herself.

Her breathing went back to gasps as her heart continued to race and she honestly thought she was going to die right here in front of all these people on the Milano. She screwed her eyes shut trying to block out everything, putting her hands on her ears trying to block out the screams of pain, but the smell of death and decay assaulted her nostrils.

She started at the noise of a cage slamming shut, opening her eyes only to find herself in an eerily familiar cramped metal cage.

_The blood in her veins turned cold and she shuttered as the sounds of pleading cries and screams of terror filled her ears. She covered her ears with hands trying to block it out, but found she couldn't. The remains of her people were all locked in 4x4 wire cages. They had survived the destruction of their planet only to be caught and rounded up and caged. Several had died from their wounds, the rest were being held here, in what could only be described as a large cave like room that only served as an amplifier for the screams of torture. _

_"I have heard that the Onari are a proud and resourceful people." a voice boomed in front of her,"What a shame to have aligned yourself with the enemy. You shall pay for your transgressions in blood, starting with your leaders." _

_A hooded figure stepped into her line of view. _

_"Bring them forward, let them be an example." _

_Four guards who had no faces escorted two familiar silver skinned figures - her parents- towards the hooded figure. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears loudly, for a moment she was afraid the others would hear. _

_"You will pay for your crimes against the Onari, Ronan." Her mother spat toward the Kree. _

_The blue skinned man laughed for a moment and then reached out his long arm and smacked her across the face, she crumbled to the ground. Anger rose up and before Adra could even stop to process exactly what she was doing, her claws tore through the metal as she hurled herself towards the large man. _

_"I doubt your species will survive long enough to do much of anything." _

_She was caught just before reaching him. Another few steps and she would have clawed his eyes out. _

_"Don't you dare hurt them, y-you monster!" she cried voice filled with anger. _

_"What would you like me to do with this one?" the female humanoid with a metallic voice asked, holding her firmly _

_The Kree man's lips curled into a vicious smile "Since this one is so eager, let her watch" _

_She tried to pull away from her captor, but found herself very much restrained, cold metal fingers on her chin forcing her to look ahead. She met the eyes of her father, who looked at her with sadness. _

_"Let this be a lesson to those who dare oppose me. Xandar will pay for their crimes against my people as well as those who stand in my way." _

_He rose his silver weapon and it came down with a crushing blow and a sickening thud, the purple blood oozed from her mother's lifeless body. _

_Another muffled thud, the hand on her chin let go as she looked down and saw the blood oozing toward her feet... _

She felt a pinch in the crook of her arm, she moved to get away from it but something or someone held it firmly. She would have defended herself if not for the energy suddenly draining from her as she collapsed into the welcoming darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>-Fri 2050-<p>

-Milano-

-Peter-

"Adra?" Peter asked worriedly seeing how pale she had suddenly gotten at the mention of Ronan, he moved to touch her shoulder but she flinched away.

He noticed the distant look in her eyes and her slow steady rocking.

"Dammit." He said more to himself than anyone, walking to the other side of her and began to rummage through her black shoulder bag. Tools, something that looked like a bomb - he wasn't going to focus on that right now-there was a soft clink. He frowned the pyramid Nova Prime had sent them to recover was in there- of course it was- he thought to himself, she had been trained by Yondu to steal, lie and cheat with the best of them. Finding what he was looking for as he pulled out a small curved container, flicking back the latch, vials looked oddly like blood. Twisting it open a small needle sprang forth.

"What the -" Rocket asked, but the Terran cut him off.

"Hold her arm." he instructed.

He plunged the needle into her arm, injecting her with the odd reddish liquid. She tried to fight, but whatever was in the vial quickly took effect and she slumped.

"What hell was that?" Rocket asked in disbelief, letting go of the woman's arm.

"Panic attack, it was about to get a lot worse. "He said grimly picking her up carefully, her head lulled to the side resting on his shoulder.

"This has happened before?" the green skinned assassin asked quietly.

"Yeah. Don't worry it's a sedative, I think."

"You think?" Rocket shouted dubiously.

"Well, I wasn't exactly able to ask. " Peter replied defensively.

"Where are you taking her?" Gamora asked as he began to walk away.

He froze for a moment, not having thought it completely through, still he had to take her somewhere. Who knows with the effects of whatever it was would wear off, he might have been a dick but he wasn't going to leave her laying on the floor of the ship.

"To my room." he said proceeding towards his bunk with the unconscious woman. The door slid open with a languid hiss. He placed her on the unmade bed, waiting for a moment until he saw her chest rise and fall evenly

Well, she wasn't dead, that was good.

He stepped out of his room to the questioning looks of his team. He brushed past them on his way towards the ladder heading topside then stopped as if having a second thought,"Someone probably should stay with her in case she wakes up."

"_If _she does." Rocket supplied, Peter glared at him," What? You said-"

"I _know_ what I said, look, just trust me on this, besides this isn't the first time this has happened." Peter said indigently.

Gamora's eyebrows went up.

"I rescued her while the Ravagers were on a mission on Knar IV for some ore, she's been with me ever since.."

"Ronan had taken many Onari as prisoners there, he killed what remained of them." the green assassin supplied quietly.

"I cannot imagine the horrors she might have experienced." Drax commented.

Peter nodded solemnly.

"Yeah well boo hoo, we've all lost things, doesn't mean she won't be any less pissed when she wakes up." Rocket said annoyed.

"Perhaps you should stay with her then, she would be less likely to retaliate." Drax suggested, looking down at the furriest member of the team.

"Oh no, you are not-" the creature's eyes narrowed with anger.

"Rocket." Quill chimed in.

"No."

"Rocket, she modified your guns."

"And?"

"Gamora obviously can't. Drax will break things and I need to pilot the ship. And Groot can't alert us, he's stuck in the pot."

"The ship's on auto pilot." the genetically altered creature replied.

_"Rocket."_

The raccoon puffed his fur out for a moment, ears flattening against his head. They watched for him to blow up, but instead he replied, "If anything happens to Groot while we're in there, I'm going to blast her off this ship."

"Fair enough."

He grabbed the small brown pot that held the sentient sapling and walked into the room, mumbling to himself .

* * *

><p>-0123-<p>

-Milano: Peter's Room-

-Adra-

She was no longer in the cage, she was drifting, floating as consciousness came to her slowly .

She felt safe, the familiar hiss of the air vent went off, she was on board the Milano.

Something moved to her right, a huff and then sound of metal parts clinking together

Soft music floated into the room. A song? The words were faint, but the rhythm familiar.. somehow. She frowned trying to place where she had heard it before. Her thoughts were sluggish at best and her eyes were refusing to open.

"Stop it would you?" an annoyed voice said

There was a soft "ah" noise above (?) her

"Yes, I know it's hers."

Another "ah" noise

"No, I'm not going to break it."

She heard the faint rustling of leaves above her.

Who was messing with her stuff? She tried to move but found her body still non responsive. She cursed inwardly. Trying again to open her eyes, they finally fluttered open and bright blinding light caused her to groan softly, turning her head to her right closing them.

Something was placed over her eyes, she opened them again and everything was filtered through grey. Someone had mercifully placed her goggles on her eyes.

"Thanks." she slurred

"Figured you could use them."

She tried to focus on the figure to her right, but her vision was still blurry. She could only make out a shadowy outline of something small in the chair next to her.

Something rustled softly above her, she moved her head, grimacing slightly feeling a painful twinge in her back, she looked up and saw the sapling known as Groot looking down at her with dark eyes. He smiled at her, swaying back and forth to the music. Yellow spores floated down to her.

She couldn't help but smile a little calm and peace coming over her. Turning her head back to the being on her right, she watched silently as he was intently messing with her staff.

He felt her eyes on him and gazed back at her evenly, "What?"

"Nothing."

He puffed his fur out, but returned his attention to the object.

She listened to the soft sound of the music playing, as much as she wanted to get up, she found that she right now she was lacking of any type of energy to do much of anything. She let her head sink further into the pillow, closing her eyes, letting the music lull her into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>-0452-<p>

-Milano-

-Adra-

The tendrils of sleep was still tugging at her consciousness, but she forced herself to become more aware of her surroundings. She sensed movement to in front of her, then heard slight humming, fingers drummed the edge of the chair to the beat.

Opening her eyes, they adjusted quickly to the light, she saw the half Terran there lip syncing to his Walkman, drumming his fingers to the bed.

"Came to sing to me?" she quipped, when he noticed she was awake.

He frowned," You lied."

She sighed heavily, "Okay I'll bite. What did I lie about this time?"

"You lied about not having a concussion."

"It's nothing," she waved him away annoyed by his overprotectiveness," besides I was preoccupied with not getting us blown up at the time. You know, as if getting captured by rebel Kree wasn't enough."

"What did they do to you?" he asked quietly easing himself onto the bed.

She looked away.

"Adra"

What difference does it make? They're dead," she said hollowly, looking down at her hands," The Spathi's destroyed."

"Damn." he cursed.

"Yeah." she whispered barely audible.

Silence

"Thank you" she said softly.

"Ronan's dead." he volunteered, hoping that it would make her feel better.

"How do you know?" she queried.

"I was there." With a sigh he relayed the story of how the orb turned out to be the Infinity Stone and how he and the others came together and defeated Ronan.

Tears in her eyes, She let out a shaky breath "You're either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid"

"Well…" he shrugged

"And I can't figure out which sometimes," she smiled thingly," You saved the galaxy."

"Yeah, yeah I did."

"You're still a jackass though."

He grinned, "I think I can live with that."

She snorted,"of course you can."

After a moment

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime Addy."

She smiled slightly letting him getting away with it, just this once.

* * *

><p>-0605-<p>

-Milano-  
>-Adra-<p>

She laid there for a while trying to process the information he had told her, she drifted back to sleep for a little bit then decided she had enough sleep for the day and got up quietly, grabbing her bag, noticing the missing weight of the pyramid she smirked of course he would have taken it. She would just simply have to take it back, hide it and get off at the nearest port with it.

She slipped out of the room with her boots in hand as well as the bag and coat. The doors hissed open and closed behind her and she leaned against the wall to pull on and lace her boots, walking down the hallway towards the small table pulling the staff from out of the coat, setting it down and herself she began to pull out her tools and unscrew the panel that held the controls and wires.

She had pieces spread across the table when she heard the soft padding of boots on the floor behind her.

Adra frowned upon closer examination there were, how in the world-

"Hey"

The familiar pot was placed on the table as the creature climbed into the chair next to her. The sentient plant smiled at her, she nodded at him and blinked in confusion at her staff, were those claw marks? They weren't her claws they were much smaller…

She glanced up at the creature holding the wires out with a questioning look.

"I was trying to fix it" he said defensively.

Her lips thinned and an "Mm" escaped

"What?" His fur bristled.

"You weren't trying to strip the wires to use for a bomb were you?"

His eyes widened in surprise, How did you-?

"The wires my staff uses aren't good for bombs, they can only carry long frequency waves. I have some that will work perfectly for a bomb or a grenade depending on what you prefer. "She shrugged, nonchalantly unscrewing the rest of the panels down the length of the staff popping them off and pulling wires out. Once loose she reached into her bag pulling out a short batch of tied wires, handing them over.

"You would give those to me?" He looked suspicious and hopeful at the same time, he took them from her.

"Yup. Don't really need them, "she said without looking up, pulling out a batch of longer wires.

He frowned, wanting to know why she was being so nice to him, but not wanting to ask.

"You let me modify your guns. " she supplied as though reading his thoughts," it's the least I can do."

He looked at her puzzled for a moment before hopping off the chair and going to his work table. He had a feeling things were going to be quite interesting with her around.


	2. Chapter 2

-Sat 0515-

-Milano-

-Peter-

Peter wakes up to find her gone, looking at the clock it's 0515, he rolls over and goes back to he finally gets up it's 0915, as he's getting his clothes he checks to find the pyramid gone. A smirk touched his face, making a mental to note to find out where her bag was and steal it back. Walking into the hallway is already playing filling up the ship with sounds of Awesome Mix Volume 1, he starts humming and finds himself nearly singing in the shower until someone bangs on the door,

"Some of us are trying to work here" the annoyed/angry voice was a bit muffled, but he knew nearly instantly it was Rocket.

"Great, he tries to kill us with his cooking and now his singing." Adra groaned above the dinof the water. He heard Rocket's boisterous laugh and let out a long sigh, it was one thing to have them both on board, but them getting along was another thing entirely. Well it was better than them arguing and trying to kill each other at least.

"Sorry Rocky." He called out above the noise letting the hot water cascading over his right then left shoulder muscles, the self-proclaimed leader of the guardians considered not leaving the shower for an extra few minutes, it felt that good.

"Arrgh." came the frustrated growl above the water, Peter could just imagine the raccoon pulling as his fur in frustration, "D'rast you idiot, don't call me that. It's Rocket. I'm not giving you pet names, don't give me one."

"Okay, okay" he shouted back trying to hide the smirk in his voice. He probably could afford staying in there just a few more minutes as he moved to the side to let the shower head work on his arms, rotating his shoulder slightly. "Rocky."

"I heard that, jerk. " came the gruff reply

"Heard what?" He feigns innocence the best he could.

"I swear I'll electrocute you." The raccoon threatened.

"Not with my staff." Adra replied.

Were they both at the door? He knew the ship was small, but geez, he didn't need an audience to shower.

"I'm done anyways. " he announced, finally stepping out.

He towels off, dresses and walks out to find Adra and Rocket sitting together building something circular that looks oddly like…

"Is that a bomb?" He squawked, "What the hell you two, this isn't arts n crafts!"

Rocket snickers.

"You think it's too small? " The silver skinned woman asked thoughtfully.

Peter feels like he is about to faint.

The faint clicking of boots announces Gamora's presence who thankfully stepped in as the voice of reason. "What Peter meant to say; is that there is no need to build explosives on the ship."

"Or out of it," he added.

"Not necessary, but fun. "Adra replied, managing to look innocent and mischievous at the same time, then turning to Rocket, she asked,"I think we should dismantle it and make it bigger."

He nods in sincere agreement.

"That does it I'm breaking you two up." Peter stated frustrated.

"Wait-no, what the hell, Quill." She argues as he pulls her away by the crook of her arm.

"I can't leave you alone for five minutes." he lamented

"Whoa, hey you did, you've left me alone for hours, days, weeks before. And now all of a sudden you don't trust me?" she protested as he marched her down the hall.

"You were building bombs." He provides still a bit freaked out.

"I always build bombs," she huffed indignantly.

"Great, just not out of my ship. "

"Party pooper." She stuck out her tongue at him and settled at the other desk, pulling out her staff and dismantling it.

-Sat 1356-

-Milano -

-Peter-

He hadn't heard a peep from either mechanic for hours and was beginning to worry. He thought it would have soothed his nerves, but it was far from it. The smell of tea drifted up from the lower deck and he knew Adra was working on a new project.

Finally he gave in, using his growling stomach as an excuse to put the ship on auto pilot and climb down the ladder and move towards the kitchenette.

"Whatcha up to?" he asked cheerfully.

"Not dancing around like a fool."

"I dance very well thank you very much."  
>"I'm sure all the ladies tell you that." she replied with a snort, her eyes never leaving the current project that she was using a large magnifying glass to finish. Just one more slight adjustment and it would be done.<p>

"Is that another bomb?"

She rolled her eyes,"No, it's a tracking device. "

"You're not implanting that into me."

"Oh don't worry, it's not compatible." she muttered, using the tweezers to twist the cap on and solder it shut.

"That's not very reassuring."

"It's not supposed to be, besides if I wanted to implant a tracker I would have already done so, you sleep like the dead."

"I do not," he protested, with a slight scowl. Poking in one of the cabients to find nothing and moving onto the second set.

"And you snore." she added, looking up and blinking several times to readjust her eyes.

He was about to protest that comment when she glared at him, he wisely changed the subject back.

"So who's it for?"

"If I told you I would have to kill you." she stated matter-of-factly, tucking the finished product into the front pocket of her bag.

"We'll be stopping for fuel and supplies on the next planet." he supplied, going through yet another set of cabinets to find nothing. Was there absolutely no food on this ship?

She nods not looking up," Z'enrark? Yeah, I know. I have a contact there."

"Oh?" He shot her a curious glance while he continued to rummage through the cabinets looking for something edible.

"Yes, and no, you can't come along to meet them. "

"Come on." He protested, finally finding an energy bar in the cabinet and tearing into it, his mouth half full.

She glanced up and cringed slightly, but remained stoic." No. "

"Why? "He whines taking another big bite and chewing loudly.

She scowled,"Close your mouth. I'm not 15, I don't need to be escorted and can handle myself perfectly well, thank you very much."

He pouts.

"Don't make that face. "

He sticks out his bottom lip, creasing his brow even more.

"I hope your face will freeze that way," she sighed, turning back to her tablet.

He sticks out his tongue at her.

She sticks hers out in return.

He blows her a raspberry.

She wiggles her ears and blows a raspberry back.

He tries to wiggle his ears, but fails. She snorts at his vain attempt, he sticks his tongue out at her and puts his hands on his head making antlers.

Someone cleared their throat catching them both in the act, it was Gamora who looked oddly amused," We are about an hour away from docking. Would you like to resume piloting or should I leave you to your strange rituals?"

Adra snickered, switching off the tablet and popping out of the chair she had settled in, "Perfect, that gives me enough time to change. "

"Change into what?"

"A freaking bird, idiot," she said drily rolling her eyes," I'm not going to go like this, I look like a bum."

She gestured towards her current clothes which was a gray shirt and loose black pants.

"You look fine to me." He shrugged.

"Yeah well thanks, but I doubt my contact would take me seriously if I showed up like this." She strode down the hall heading toward his room, "Oh and you may want to leave your coat. The Ravagers are a bit infamous here, more so than usual."

Before he could ask why she had disappeared through the doors of his room.

-Sat 1544-

-Milano -

-Adra-

When she emerged, she was dressed in what she jokingly referred to as her 'negotiating outfit': black heeled boots that matched the black leather pants and black shirt with a V-shaped neck. The outfit was not only attention getting, but she could fight fairly comfortably in it. Plus she had several concealed daggers in various places nearly eliminating the need for her to have her staff. Two on each side of her black boots, one on each hip tucked into the belt and the last two in each of the wrist straps built into her black fingerless gloves. The V-shaped black leather shirt was held together by what looked like a thin piece of barely visible string was actually strong enough to hold the weight of a Krull soldier (she knew that one from personal experience).

The pyramid was safely contained in a hollowed out bomb shell.

Someone whistled at her, looking up her purple eyes landed on the furry creature who was sitting at his makeshift workbench the makings of a bomb in his paws.

She smirked," Well, I'm glad someone approves."

"Quill's a jerk." He supplied going back to his project.

"This I know." She agreed

"And he's an idiot." He inserted a wire into the soldered hole, twisting it through the metal contacts and soldered it with another wire.

"This I also know."

"Would you two stop talking about me like I'm not here," the half-Terran grumbled, climbing down the ladder and upon seeing Adra's grabbed his chest dramatically,"Gah, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Would it mean I would get the Milano?" She asked hopefully.

"No!" he snapped quickly.

"Well damn, I guess I need to try harder." she said drily, straightening up and proceeding toward the dock.

Rocket snickered.

She walked towards the stairs leading to the docks and then paused for a moment as if having an afterthought, "Don't even think of tracking me. I'll see you in a few hours."

She could hear the resigned sigh coming from Peter as she did a small hop off platform and onto the walkway, turning a sharp left melting into the crowd of people.

-Sat 1622-

- Z'enrark: Lower west side –

-Adra-

She slid into the store without so much as a sound, surveying her surroundings for a moment. There were fewer display cases than she remembered, but relics on display were no less impressive. There was a glowing purple jewel suspended in midair of the one closest to her, it almost looked like the shard used to magnify the codices. She tapped the orb that disguised the relic absently.

"Don't touch anything. "A voice growled from the back of the store.

"Nice to see you again too, Seni'l. she called out cheerily, as she allowed her boot heels to click loudly on the floor and strutted toward the direction of the voice. Knowing that the black scaled reptilian man would be hunched over his still new holo screen she installed over the back glass panel. The corners of her lips crept into a smile as she saw him, glaring over the edge of his spectacles, then straightened up standing to his full height about a meter taller than her.

"Sso what brings you here? I didn't ssee the Elector or the Sspathi on the list of arrivalss, what unfortunate soulss took you in?" he inquired, the "s" being more pronounced and causing him to flick his forked tongue out slightly,

She gave him a disarming smile, ignoring the jab, striding letting the counter serve as a separation between them. "I need you to look at a relic. "

"Ssurely you would know better than to bring me worthless sspace junk."he stated in a bored tone, looking back down at the display clawed finger scrolling through it lazily

"I think you're confusing me with someone else," she stated idly, leaning against the counter and placed the metallic gray orb on the counter.

"Oh? How sso? "He eyed it for a moment with mild interest.

She nodded in earnest, "I don't come to you for minor things."

He tapped the orb with one claw then another, peering at it again, he muttered "Unless Yondu ssent you."

"He didn't," she replied with smile, knowing that Seni'l was barely resisting the urge to look at the orb further.

"Then doess he know you are here? "The creature inquired cautiously, looking towards the door.

She smirked, the last meeting between the two would have gone swimmingly if it wasn't for an idle threat and the yaka arrow being called out.

"No. Are you going to look at it or should I find someone else?"She asked in a bored tone, making a move for the orb. He hissed softly his serpentine tongue flickering out at her for a few seconds as he rolled it closer to him.

"Sso impatient." He muttered, his right hand hit a button under the counter that turned the glass windows dark.

To her raised eyebrow, he explained "Ssafey percautionss. Now, sshow me thiss relic."

She gestured for her the orb back, he rolled it to her, she held it in both hands and grew the nail out in her forefinger sliding it down the seam that went through the middle until it clicked softly, turning the orb she opened it in half to reveal the pyramid.

"Clever girl." He muttered taking it from her hands carefully inspecting it. He found the small latch underneath it and turned carefully the sides of the pyramid opened up like the leaves of a flower before him revealing the small writing that covered the insides and the purple shard that sat in the middle of it.

"Now thiss iss truly a rare find. The Obsidian Codicess, it was rumored that it wass lost when the planet was destroyed. Where did you find thiss?"

Citrine eyes turned to her for a moment and then back to the opened relic.

"I came across it." She shrugged.

"Hmm…" he said, clearly not buying her explanation but not wanting- or caring- to ask where it had come from," Well it'ss sstill intact."

She shifted her weight to her right leg, wanting for him to ask the loaded question.

He placed the pyramid on the counter between them and looked up at her over his small black oval glasses.

"What do you plan to do with thiss?"

"Depends on who is asking." She returned coolly.

"Ssmart girl," he replied, with a curt nod, then turned the relic over in his hand, "I would offer you 500,000 unitss for it, but you and I both know it's worth more than that."

She nodded, letting him set the pace of the conversation, she was after all, in no real hurry.

"What are you going to do with the rebelss find out you have it?"

"They're not going to."

"Word sspreads fast in these parts." He said demurely.

"And I bet you're just the person to help that along aren't you?" She asked, leaning against the counter.

"For a price I can make ssure you are ssafe." Seni'l offered modestly.

"And for how long? Enough to hop on the next ship out of here and then what? I have to contact you on the next port and renegotiate?" she probed, watching him carefully as he seemed to gain more and more courage thinking he had the upper hand.

"Perhapss" he said with a smirk playing in the corner of his mouth. Claws tapping at the glass patiently as if waiting for her decision. She shifted her weight from one side to the other as if thinking about it and then announced,""That's going to be a problem. You're going to demand more units each time I contact you, until I'm in the hole trying to pay you."

He nodded gravely as if understanding," It's a ssmall price to pay for freedom."

"That line might work if I was some sweet naïve little girl who just came planetside for the first time, but you and I both know I'm not. So let's cut to the chase, shall we? I'm going to give you two options: You're going to let me out of here with the relic without the rebels to my presence and we'll never going to speak again or , you could choose the second opinion in which I still walk out of here with the relic and you don't get to live." She said idly, pulling a dagger out from her hip and twirling it end over end catching it deftly each time. He scanned her features trying to find a telltale twitch or something anything to reveal that she was bluffing, but her face remained stoic her purple eyes staring him down intensely.

His left hand made a move towards the relic, other hand going under the counter to presumably hit a switch of some sort. Within a second his left hand was pinned down by her dagger, he flinched slightly but didn't utter a word.

The fight lasted longer than it should have, but he was spry and agile having caught her a few times with his claws and swept her legs from up under her with his tail. At the end of it though she had most of her daggers in his various internal organs, the last one in her hand at his throat.

"Any last words?" She asked idly the tip of the dagger at his scaled skin.

"You're sso ssure of your abilitiess, who will rescue you thiss time?"

"I don't need anyone to rescue me. "

Citrine eyes stared at her as a smug look crossed his reptilian features, "Sso you think."

She plunged the dagger into his throat, he choked grasping at her dagger as if trying to remove it and after a moments went still.

The daggers were an easy clean; just pull out, swipe and place back into their hidden locations. Looking at the corpse for a moment, she stepped over it and went straight for the sink. Thankfully the blood didn't show up on the leather. The only thing she really hated was her skin turning dark gray after contact with liquid. Kraglin was the one who had taught her the trick to washing off blood, get it off as quickly as possible otherwise it could take days, and there was nothing worse than trying to negotiate with a contact when you literally have another's blood on your hands.

She glanced at the mirror for a moment, there was a darkening bruise on her right cheek from where he had caught her with his fist and a few claws marks on her neck, but nothing she couldn't explain away as a simple scuffle over a bad it was indeed a bad deal. Taking a few things with her, smashing the display glass, knocking over chairs and tables and scattering them making it look like he had been robbed.

She's not proud of what she does, but it was a survival skill –mainly Yondu's teaching- she was a Ravager after all and had learned quickly that sometimes negotiations don't go as planned. She had gotten the information she needed, the Codices were extremely dangerous to have around, especially as long as there were rebel Kree following Ronan's original plans and they were still alive. And it wasn't like she could keep hiding or even go back to Yondu – who would more than likely want to sell it to the highest bidder- galaxy wide war be damned- she couldn't take it to Tanaris, they would track her there too- she sighed, yup, she was screwed from every angle. The best thing to do was find some corner of the galaxy nice and quiet to leave it and check on it now and again and not under any circumstances let Peter know how completely and utterly dangerous this was.

She wanders through the marketplace dropping items here and there before she hears a loud voice, easily recognizable.

-Sat 1914-

- Z'enrark : Lower east side market place-

-Rocket-

Rocket is negotiating for some scrap metal the dealer is unwilling to budge saying he doesn't sell weapons to rodents or pets, Rocket gets pissed but before he can pull his gun out, there's a staff at the large gut of the merchant.

"If I were you I would listen to him and stop being so hard headed before both of us find out how quickly your skin fries" a low menacing voice growls, it's Adra showing fangs.

"This your pet?"

"He's no one's pet," she snarled poking the man." Whatever price he's offering you take it." She poked the staff into his belly turning the power on just slightly the man shook with the shock.

"Okay, okay. 300 units."

"Was that your offer? "She asked Rocket, deliberately not using his name.

"200. "He said, folding his arms across his chest trying not to enjoy himself. Finally there was someone who could talk sense into merchants around here.

Another shock. The merchant curses in his native tongue.

"Tsk, tsk. You don't say that in front of a lady. "

Another shock.

"Alright, alright. 200. Fine. "

"Why thank you, kind sir. "She said her voice turning sickening sweet as she powered down her staff, catching a whiff of burnt flesh. The man tried to look at his gut but it was too big for him to check for any damage.

"It's just a small mark," she said then looked at Rocket who was tapping on the tablet transferring the units.

"We done here?"

"Yup." He hopped off the stool, she grabbed the box of items exiting and gave the merchant a sweet smile and a Thank you.

He grumbled back at her.

"You didn't have to do that." Rocket said as they walked towards the docks toward the Milano.

She shrugged, nonchalantly" I was in the area, figured you could use some help. Besides that merchant was going to try to get you to pay 800 units for this," she jiggled the box slightly looking through it with a careful eye, "there's nothing of any real worth in here, 'cept the metal cylinders. Oh wait.. is that.. that is.. "she digs into the box and finds a modified detonator, looking at it for a moment,"Now where in the world did you find that shop that specializes in scrap metal and dismantled weapons?"

"Guy's gotta have his secrets." He grinned.

"So I see."

An easy silence fell between then as they made they way back to the docks. He glanced at her for a moment.

"What?" she asked.

"You look like you could use a drink"

"You have no idea. Drax'll want to get off the ship though. So we should wait.. "she trailed off knowing that if she stayed on the ship until Peter and Gamora got back, he would bombard her with millions of questions, none of which she wanted to deal with right now.

"But we won't, "he concluded for her.

"No,I know a decent place near downtown."

And this is how they ended up in the bar

-Sat 2305-

- Z'enrark: Downtown -

-Peter-

Peter was about to give up and head back to the Milano when he popped his head into the last bar at the end of the street. He found them both sitting at the bar counter, Rocket's cannon gun propped up against the chair. There was no shouting, fighting or shots being fired. He blinked again making sure he saw correctly

"Alright kids, playtime's over."

Both of them glowered at him.

"I am not a child." she retorted sharply.

"Neither am I." the cyborg raccoon spat angrily.

"Okay, okay. Crew?" he offered.

She scoffed at the correction.

"Dunno 'bout you, but I'm not done." Rocket said his muzzle poking into a mug and downed most of the lime colored contents.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, noticing the bruise on her face and the scratch marks on her neck.

Something crossed her face that he couldn't quite identify, as she turned away from him with shrug to grab her drink and turned around to face him "Nothing of any real importance."

"You look like you got into a fight." he stated.

"Maybe I did, what's it to you?" She replied in a low nearly challenging tone.

Quill glanced at the cyborg racoon next to her, before he could even ask Rocket beat him to it with a low growl,"Don't even try to pin that on me, Star Dork. She was like that when we met up."

The frown deepened on their leader's face as he reached out to touch the darkening bruise on her cheekbone, she brushed him away annoyed.

"I got into a scuffle on my own and took care of it, on my own. End of discussion."

"Okay, okay." He held up his hands as a sign of surrender.

"You worry too much. As I said, I can handle myself."

"Yeah, Quill." Rocket echoed in agreement.

"Whose side are you on?"

"The winnin' one." He grinned.

"Is this Terran bothering you?" a thunderous voice asked, it belonged to a Krull solider who suddenly appeared standing next to Adra.

"He's tryin'." She slurred slightly with a smirk on her face, then gave the Krull a disarming smile, "I'm good. Thanks."

"I'll be right over in the corner if you need me." He said, lingering for a moment, giving Peter a glare before walking back towards the corner.

She nodded quickly, and regretted the movement a moment later, then turned her attention back to Quill,"Want a drink?"

"No, I actually came here to collect the two of you. We've got fuel and supplies and Drax is cooking some large piece of meat he found at the marketplace that he's a bit too happy about."

"Is it a huge chunk of purple meat with green spidery veins?" she queried, leaning against the bar counter heavily.

"Yeah, why?"

"It'll be a feast of fried Gul'nak, which is quite the delicacy. "

"How would –"

She cut him off," I've been here before, duh."

Rocket snickers.

Adra points her finger at mechanic," And you owe me a thousand units."

"D'rast, I thought you would forget."

"There's not enough liquor here to do that." She grinned, taking a big sip from the straw her in glass, the yellow liquid went drastically down," 'Sides, you're just mad I won the bet."

"In that outfit, it's a small wonder." he grumbled into his mug.

Peter glared at him," I heard that."

"Don't gimme that humie, she's the one that was hit on by a Krull."

"A female Krull, thank you very much," she supplied somewhat smugly, crossing her arms over her chest," How many times did you get hit on?"

He mumbled his reply.

"What was that? I'm sorry I didn't quite hear that reply." She poked him with her elbow slightly, enough to jostle him.

Quill couldn't help but be amazed that the furry mechanic wasn't trying to pull his gun on her.

"Twice. " He grumbled his admittance.

"Are you counting that reptilian creature? I think she was just being nice because she wanted to eat you. "

"She did not want to eat me."

"You didn't see the way she was licking her lips while you were drinking." The silver skinned woman said teasingly.

Peter sighs exasperated," I expect this from you Rocket, but you, " he glanced at Adra," I'm shocked, dare I say appalled."

She scowled, clearly annoyed,"Oh, shut up, before I call that Krull knucklehead back here. Did you honestly think that I could have kept up with Yondu and the others without holding my liquor? "

As if to prove her point, she slid off the stool and wobbled for a moment, brushing away Peter's helping hand. Rocket on jumped off the stool and nearly landed face first. She snorted then covered her mouth trying to hide her amusement, Rocket shot her a look that was dangerously murderous.

Quill led the two out of the bar and towards the docks, trying to not let either wander too far away from him or the path.

-Sun 0017-

-Milano-

-Adra-

The smell of searing meat thankfully overrode the stench of cooked vegetables that had permeated the various corners of the Milano the past few days.

"About frackin' time someone makes something edible." Rocket grumbled.

"Drax, you are my new friend," Adra proclaimed loudly upon entering the kitchenette, clapping a hand on the large man's shoulder. The man stopped for a brief moment in his cooking and looked at her somewhat startled.

"I am glad you approve." He replied slightly confused at her overly friendly gesture, he caught the motion Peter made behind her signifying that she had had a bit too much to drink.

She caught the look in her corner of her eye, and promptly protested, "I am not drunk. I'm just glad someone will finally cook something other than damn vegetables."

"Hey, I cook very well." The half-Terran protested

"Sure you can, for someone who has no taste buds." She rolled her eyes.

"Friend Quill does make dishes with an abundance of vegetables." Drax stated in agreeance.

"And some of us here can't eat it."

"I am Groot! "The sapling squeaked in agreement from the pot on the table.

She smiled down at him, he grew a small purple flower for her and she took it sticking in her hair,"Why, thank you."

"What is this, gang up on Peter day?" He lamented

"Isn't that every day?" she asked drily

"I am Groot? " the sentient being asked, looking alarmed and pointing to spot of blood that was on the edge of her elbow.

She looked down at what he was pointing at and wiped the offending spot away.

"See? Not mine, I'm fine." She said to the sapling, who gave her a disappointing scowl – or is best approximation of one, since the sentient being had to be the happiest one the ship – she tossed him a bright smile and plopped down in the chair in front of him.

"I am starving."

"Me too."

-Sun 0515-

-Milano: Navigation Deck-

-Peter-

"Feeling better?" he asked.

Adra nods, slipping into the copilots chair," Where are we headed to next?"

"It depends on you."

"Oh?" She's curious now, pulled out of her pensive mood for the moment.

"Are you going to sell or keep the Codices?"

Her eyes flash angrily "You spied on me?"

He held up a hand to stop her protest, "I was worried okay? You're the closest thing I have to a sister and I'm not going to let you get hurt under my watch."

She sighs, exasperated.

"From the sounds of it, everyone wants it."

"Yeah." she agreed reluctantly.

"I think we should give it to Nova Prime." he suggested hopefully.

"Are you nuts? I can't go anywhere remotely near Xandar right now." she scowled.

He blinked in confusion.

"I escaped prison, remember?"

"Oh you mean that time you nearly bled out on my ship? "She shot him an icy glare," Oh, that day. Yeah, I think I can get your record cleared up. "

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right."

"No, seriously. We saved Xandar so, the least Nova Prime can do is get rid of your record."

She snorts.

"You'll see." He said giving her trademark smile.

She warned,"If I end up arrested-"

BOOM

The ship shuddered violently, the lights dimmed briefly the emergency generator kicked on and everything was eliminated in dull orange. Within a few moments the lights came back on.

"D'rast! I could have poked my eye out. What did you run us into?"

The raccoon scurried up the ladder and onto the navigation deck standing between the Terran and Adra.

"Nothing," he said distractedly, his fingers flying over the controls as he scanned for the image of what had attacked them," Or at least it wasn't there a moment ago."

The image appeared on the screen that caused Adra to gasp and Rocket's eyes to widen.

"What the hell?" Peter whispered, looking up. It was oddly familiar, if he could only place it...the same rectangular shape, shiny black outer shell.

"We destroyed the Dark Aster did we not?" Drax asked behind them, causing all but Rocket to jump in their seats.

"We did." Gamora stated, "but that is not the Dark Aster."

"Then what is it?" Quill asked.

"Nothing good." Adra whispered.

All eyes turned to her and it was Peter who noticed she looked visibly shaken and pale.


End file.
